THE LION DANCE 



the other three tribes danced each its specialty dimly 

 in the background. 



The dance thus begun lasted for fully two hours. 

 Each tribe took a turn before us, only to give way to 

 the next. We had leisure to notice minutiae, such 

 as the ingenious tail one of the "lions" had con- 

 structed from a sweater. As time went on, the 

 men worked themselves to a frenzy. From the 

 serried ranks every once in a while one would break 

 forth with a shriek to rush headlong into the fire, to 

 beat the earth about him with his club, to rush over 

 to shake one of us violently by the hand, or even to 

 seize one of our feet between his two palms. Then 

 with equal abruptness back he darted to regain his 

 place among the dancers. Wilder and wilder be- 

 came the movements, higher rose the voices. The 

 mock lion hunt grew more realistic, and the slaugh- 

 ter on both sides, something tremendous. Lower 

 and lower crouched the Monumwezi, drawing apart 

 with their deep "goom"; drawing suddenly to a 

 common centre with the sharp ^'zoop!^'' Only the 

 Kikuyus held their lofty bearing as they rolled forth 

 their chant, but the mounting excitement showed in 

 their tense muscles and the rolling of their eyes. 

 The sweat glistened on naked black and bronze 

 bodies. Among the Monumwezi to my astonish- 

 ment I saw Memba Sasa, stripped like the rest, and 



193 



